LAS VEGAS – The underdogs come up big as Texas State (4-2) picked up its first road win of the season and snapped a four-game losing streak in road or neutral games dating back to last year when they topped UNLV (2-4) 64-57 Wednesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. Senior guard Nijal Pearson turned in a big night that included moving to No. 3 on the program's all-time scoring list.
 
"It was a great win for the players, our coaching staff and the program," said head coach Danny Kaspar. "Our players gave great effort for 40 minutes and Nijal [Pearson] played a great game on the eve of his birthday."
 
BOBCAT NUMBERS
• Texas State shot 41.5 percent (22-of-53) from the floor and 77.3 percent (17-of-22) at the free-throw line in the victory. They did shoot 3-of-13 from 3-point range.
• Defensively, the Bobcats held the Runnin' Rebels under a .400 shooting percentage both from the field (.347) and from downtown (.368).
• Pearson logged his first double-double of the 2019-20 season with a game-high 25 points and added 10 rebounds. Pearson also registered two assists, two steals, and one block. Pearson's 3-point field goal pushed him past former Bobcat Donte Mathis on the all-time scoring list. The senior now has 1,635 career points and needs 207 points to pass Travis Cornett (1970-74, 1,841) for No. 2 all-time.
• Pearson tallied his 20th career game with 20 or more points (third this season), his 10th career game with 10 or more rebounds (first this season) and his sixth career double-double (first this season).
• Sophomore guard Mason Harrell finished with 10 points and led the team with a career-high three steals.  
• Although he went scoreless in the game, junior forward Isiah Small still contributed with a season-high four blocks. Senior forward Eric Terry was behind him, matching his career-high three blocks for the fourth time with the Bobcats and the second time this year. Terry had four points.
• Junior guard Marlin Davis matched a career-high seven assists for the third time with the Maroon and Gold. He also had four points.   
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Despite seven team fouls by the 10:25 mark, Texas State found themselves tied with UNLV at 14 with 8:44 on the clock in the first half. The Runnin' Rebels used an 8-0 run, however, to take a 22-14 lead just under six minutes remaining in the half.
• The run expanded to 12-2 giving UNLV the largest lead of the night at 26-16, but the Bobcats responded with a 12-1 run of their own to take a 28-27 lead, their first since making the opening basket. Both teams went into the half with 28 points.
•  Pearson led all players with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line. As a team, the Bobcats shot 45.8 percent from the floor (11-of-24) and 85.7 percent from the stripe (6-of-7), however, they were 0-of-5 from behind-the-arc.
• Both teams exchanged buckets at the start of the second half and the Bobcats took a 38-36 advantage with 15:55 on the clock. UNLV took a 44-43 lead moments later, but another 12-2 run for the Bobcats gave the visiting team their largest lead at 55-46 with 4:45 remaining in the game.
• The Maroon and Gold would not relinquish the lead again and converted on 6-of-8 free-throws in the final minute to secure the 64-57 victory.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Texas State turned UNLV over 16 times and dominated defensively as they eight steals and a season-high eight blocks.
• As good defense leads to easy offense, the Bobcats turned those 16 turnovers into 16 points and outran the Runnin' Rebels in fastbreak points 11-2. TXST also dominated in bench scoring 22-8.
• Pearson shot 50.0 percent from the floor and went 8-of-9 at the charity stripe. Pearson now has 307 career made free-throws (No. 8 all-time) and needs five more free-throws to pass Cameron Johnson (2007-11, 311) for No. 7 all-time.
• UNLV's junior guard Amauri Hardy had 18 points in the loss and made four of his five field goals by way of the longball. Junior forward Donnie Tillman also finished the game scoring in double figures with 13 points including a 6-of-6 outing at the stripe. Junior forward Cheikh Mbacke Diong led all players with 11 rebounds and added eight points.  
 
UP NEXT
Texas State will finish the Southwestern Showdown in San Marcos where they will have consecutive home games for the first time this season. The Bobcats will play Abilene Christian at 7 p.m. Nov. 25 and Hartford at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at Strahan Arena.
 
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